Thomas E. Jones

Thomas E. Jones served as president from 1946-58.

Jones grew up in Fairmount, Indiana, attended Fairmount Academy, graduated from Earlham and received a Ph.D. in sociology from Columbia. A recorded Quaker minister, he worked as executive secretary of the Young Friends movement. He had lived in Japan while his wife Esther served as a missionary.

Jones was serving as president of Fisk University when asked to become Earlham's next president. Under Jones's leadership enrollment rose from 225 to almost 1000, $10 million dollars was raised for campus improvements, and the faculty was transformed. Jones developed the "Earlham Idea," a vision for Earlham's present and future. Jones engaged in fundraising not only for buildings, but for higher salaries for faculty as well.

About Earlham

Earlham College, an independent, residential college, aspires to provide the highest-quality undergraduate education in the liberal arts, including the sciences, shaped by the distinctive perspectives of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).